


with the shield (or upon it)

by kangeiko



Category: Seafort Saga - David Feintuch
Genre: Gen, M/M, Midshipman's Hope, Yuletide Treat, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 06:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kangeiko/pseuds/kangeiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>In an instant I grasped the situation. Piles of water balloons lay about. The middies and cadets, wet uniforms sticking to their limbs, carried armfuls of missiles as they stalked each other.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The water-fight in <span class="u">Midshipman's Hope</span> ended slightly differently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	with the shield (or upon it)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serenade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenade/gifts).



> A million thanks to F for the awesome beta!

> _In an instant I grasped the situation. Piles of water balloons lay about. The middies and cadets, wet uniforms sticking to their limbs, carried armfuls of missiles as they stalked each other._
> 
> _“Oh, Lord God! The Captain!” The figures froze in horror._
> 
> _…_
> 
> _I dialled down the light until the berth was nearly dark. “Hostile attack, Vax! I’m unarmed! Situation critical!”_
> 
> _…_
> 
> _After that it degenerated into a wild melee that ended only when the huge piles of water balloons were exhausted. By that time all the middies and their Captain had turned on the two hapless cadets and bombarded them into submission from all sides._
> 
> _Chapter 21, Midshipman’s Hope_

 

*

I brought myself under control and faced the grinning middies. “What a breach of regs! For punishment I order you to mop the place up, every inch of it! Acknowledge!”

“Aye aye, sir!” They acknowledged my command with unfeigned delight, and turned to their task with zeal, still giggling a little. There was water everywhere, some furniture up-ended, and their discarded uniform jackets and shirts strewn about. At one point Derek had tried to use his mattress as a shield, and that was now propped against one of the bulkheads, its sheets wound around Alexi as a makeshift toga. Ricky had kept his shoes on and he squelched with each step as he tried to manage the mattress by himself. All of them looked like delighted, damp kittens – possibly excepting Vax, who had too much muscle to ever look kittenish.

I turned to go, and my own shoes squelched with the movement. Paula laughed and covered her mouth reflexively. I saw Vax grin out of the corner of my eye and beckoned him with one finger, smiling evilly. It would never do to look less than commanding. “Not you, Vax. Come along and help your wounded Captain to his bunk.”

Vax laughed outright at that. “Aye, sir,” he said, and fell into step with me. “Where are you injured, Captain?”

I stepped out of the cabin, shoes still squelching merrily. “I am gravely wounded, Vax. My chest, my limbs… these rascals have destroyed me.”

Vax glanced over his shoulder at where the middies and cadets alike were watching us. “Does the Captain require assistance in returning from the field of battle?” He raised an eyebrow at that, eyes flicking to indicate our avid audience.

I schooled my face into an expression of utmost seriousness. “With my shield or on it, Mr Holser.” I winked.

Vax nodded just as seriously and stepped forward. The middies drew in a sharp breath, correctly reading his intention – more correctly than me, perhaps. I had thought that Vax would offer me a shoulder to lean on and I could limp theatrically away – on my shield, as it were.

It seemed, however, that Vax had taken my phrase rather more literally than I had intended. At my discreet nod permitting the contact, he swooped down and scooped me up in his arms, more damsel in distress than a comrade in arms.

He had a good foot in height on me, and thirty pounds of muscle; a ‘damsel in distress’ probably wasn’t too far off the mark. I could feel my face start to flush red. “Vax!” I whispered urgently, desperately trying not to struggle, knowing I’d look even more ridiculous if I flailed. “Vax, what are you doing?”

Behind us, the cadets seemed like they might be giving themselves hernias trying not to laugh; Derek was staring straight ahead with unabashed amusement, and Alexi had the biggest grin I had ever seen stretched right across his face.

Vax settled me solicitously in his arms. Had I been in need of carrying, I would have been extremely comfortable. As it was, my senior Midshipman was carrying his semi-naked Captain through the corridors, both of them soaked wet. “I’m assisting a wounded comrade in arms, Captain,” Vax said, with immense dignity. “Are you uncomfortable, Captain? Should I carry you in a different way?”

Well, that tore it. I could hardly demand a different conveyance, and telling him to put me down would ruin the joke. Still, Ricky looked like he might die from apoplexy with the effort to not laugh. Alexi had given up on decorum and simply had one hand over his mouth, his shoulders shaking.

“I had anticipated something a little less, er, prone,” I said, as if being carried by my senior Midshipman had always been my intent, and it was merely the method which had flummoxed me.

Vax stopped as if thunderstruck at this. “My apologies, Captain,” he said, looking down to meet my eyes. From this angle, his jaw was especially square, like a medieval knight. There was a glint in his eyes that made my own widen with alarm. “I shall remedy this immediately.” He gracefully swung me to my feet.

I had a moment where I breathed in, straightened what was left of my uniform – and then Vax dipped down and hoisted me over his shoulder in a graceful fireman’s carry. _That_ lift, he hadn’t telegraphed.

“Is this better, Captain?”

No, it really wasn’t. From this position, I had an excellent view of Vax’s uniformed arse. Desperately trying not to stare, I looked up – and straight at Alexi, who looked like all of his Christmasses had come early. He hadn’t looked that gleeful in all the long months I’d known him. Derek had an arm around his shoulders, all decorum abandoned, while Paula and Ricky were clutching at each other, desperately trying to hold on to the remnants of their self-control and not burst out laughing.

I decided to yield gracefully. “Much better, Mr Holser. Proceed.”

Vax hesitated for a moment – evidently himself surprised at my easy acquiescence – then squared his shoulders as best he could with me draped across them, and nodded. “Aye aye, Captain.” With a spring in his step, he set off.

The last thing I saw before we rounded the corner was Alexi at last losing his control and doubling over with helpless laughter.

Below me, a long way away, it seemed like, the deck bobbed with each step Vax took. We left a slightly soggy trail in our wake as Vax walked, not the least bit out of breath, for all the burden on his shoulders.

At the end of the corridor, he paused. “Would you like me to put you down, Captain?” He asked, his voice quiet.

We’d had our laugh, and the youngsters theirs. My foul mood had at last lifted, and my face ached from laughing. I found myself strangely reluctant to let go of that feeling, of the utter ridiculousness of it all. Horsing about was for middies, not Captains, and I wouldn’t have a chance to play again any time soon. I should make the most of it.

“I believe you offered to carry me off the battlefield, Mr Holser,” I said, with as much severity as I could muster. “I recommend you proceed.”

There was a long pause, and then Vax laughed. He shifted his grip so he could pet me, very quickly and just the once, on my thigh – as close to the stinging towel-smack bunkmates delivered to each other as he dared. “I am at your service, Captain,” he said, and settled me across his shoulders more securely.

Now that I had committed to my insanity, there was nothing to do but enjoy the ride. Vax kept an arm across my thighs, keeping me steady, and I felt something in me relax at the warm familiarity, so long denied. I had the utmost trust in Vax, and it was going to be a long walk to my quarters. I could only hope that he could get me there without someone walking by.

Vax’s shoes squelched wetly with each step.

“Vax,” I said, from my vantage point, “you haven’t tried this with any other officer, have you?”

“No, sir,” he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice. “Just you.”

I felt inexplicably relieved. "Well," I said, gathering the shreds of of my dignity around me, "carry on, Midshipman."

*

fin


End file.
